57.4 mi / 4:22:40 time / 13.1 mph avg. / 1209 ft. climbing
Staying at Kring Point State Park

We got the morning started off right with Aeropress coffee and apple cider donuts from an apple orchard we stopped at the day before. And then, catastrophe! As I went to pay for our campsite on the way out of the park, my wallet was missing fromy handlebar bag! Dammit, I’d been too lax and trusting of other campers! I’d already lost a wallet once on a tour, so I knew it was survivable, but it’s really the last thing we needed. 

So I took a moment to breathe, and then remembered: had I actually outsmarted myself and been more proactive than I thought about security? I dug out my clothing bag and began emptying it right there on the campground road, and yes, there it was, where I had thrown it yesterday when we were going to be away from our tent for a few minutes. Turn off the alarms and let the heart rate go back down. Apparently someone decided the coffee hadn’t been sufficient to wake us up! 

We’d learned yesterday that we’re traveling through a surprisingly unpopulated area when it took us way longer than we wanted to find an open place for lunch (the switch to off-season hours doesn’t help either). So 20 miles in when we saw a gas station Subway, I made the call to stop. The decision was confirmed when a couple of guys who we’d talked with at yesterday’s lunch spot walked in. I guess the food spots really are that rare! 

A little further on, we dropped off the main highway onto a local road to meet our traveling companion for the next few days: the St. Lawrence River. We’re both going northeast, though us not quite as far. As the drainage path for all the Great Lakes to the North Atlantic Ocean, it was already as wide as many lakes are. Summer homes lined the shore, and on the other side: Canada! 

In Dexter we stopped at the grocery store to pick up provisions to make sandwiches for lunch and dinner. I’m more used to “roughing it” with food than Rett, so it was so nice to have her driving this, as we now share a goal to make bike touring affordable enough to do it long-term someday. 

Off on another beautiful local farm road in Amish country, our planned route turned to gravel. I started planning a detour on paved roads, but Rett seemed open to adventure, so we took the gravel, with Rett walking up and down the steep hills. Soon we came to a house with a slightly bewildered Amish woman and her dog, wondering why two English with bicycles were coming up her driveway. She confirmed that the road did not go through, seemed to indicate we weren’t the first who were misled by the maps, and kindly asked if there was anything else she could help us with. Oh well, it was a nice little experience and didn’t waste too much time and energy. I’ll try to remember to update Google Maps when the tour is over! 

We stopped at a gazebo in LaFargeville for lunch, and also to figure out my rear wheel. Upon inspection, several spokes on the non-drive side had come completely loose! Argh. I knew I shouldn’t have trusted the machine-built wheels that came with my new bike, but since they’ve seemed fine on Rett’s bike, I figured I could trust them at least as much as my own nascent wheel-building skills. Apparently not, since the front wheels I built for both of us seem perfectly fine (so far!) At least now I know a bit more about wheel-truing and brought along all the tools in case my own work went bad, so I tightened the spokes up as evenly as I could, and it seems alright for the moment. It’s definitely a big concern though and I have to keep an eye on it. 
Out of LaFargeville we took a local road that suddenly turned to gravel. As far as Rett has come, she’s fairly terrified of gravel still, so although she didn’t want to backtrack, she had to be coaxed into riding rather than walking the mile to the next road. After a couple of tries riding, she gave up and walked, in the meantime proving that she could safely come to a controlled stop, which I figure will help build her confidence and make her less-terrified in the future. I let her walk ahead as I checked the directions, and as I rode to catch up, discovered that it was actually a pretty terrifying road, much worse than it appeared. Sandy, loose gravel, washboarded, I could barely ride as fast as she walked. So then felt bad that I had tried to use such a dangerous road as a learning experience. 

And more, I felt mad that my poor routing had made the day longer and more difficult than it needed to be. Rett noticed my sulking and made it clear that I should suck it up, quit beating myself up, and accept that such mistakes will happen from time to time. If it didn’t bother her (and it didn’t, except when I was pushing her to ride rather than walk), then it shouldn’t bother me. That’s a hard lesson for me to learn, but I’m working hard at it. I’m just so committed to making this tour easier for her than the last one that I forget how much easier she’s already made it for herself. 

The geology began changing as we approached Kring Point State Park. Lots of flat, exposed bedrock in place of soil, and it brought with it the mixed pine forest that can survive in such terrain. 

The park itself is one of the most unique state park locations I’ve ever seen. The same rocky land formed a narrow peninsula along the flow of the St. Lawrence, with the river on one side and a bay less than 100 yards away (and often less) on the other. We got a walk-in, waterfront site, set up our tent on the concrete pad (too sloped and hard to pitch a tent anywhere else), and put our six pack of hard cider in our riverside cooler. 

There is a densely wooded private island a literal stone’s throw further into the river with a house only slightly smaller than the rock it sits on. What a unique place! 

With the help of some neighbors and their firestarter and paper (lots of paper might be the key!), we even got a nice fire going. Unfortunately the good day ended early as rain came in and we had to hole up in the hot tent earlier than planned. 

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 7th, 2016 at 8:00 pm and is filed under 2016 Bike Tour, bike. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.